Hitna će doći odmah ako je ozljeda ozbiljna.

Here Hitna is a shortened everyday way of saying hitna pomoć, meaning emergency medical help.

Depending on context, English might translate it as:

• the ambulance
• the emergency services
• the paramedics

So in this sentence, Hitna će doći odmah means that emergency medical help will come right away.

Also, the capital H is only because it is at the beginning of the sentence. In the middle of a sentence, it would normally be hitna.

Because Croatian often leaves out a noun when it is obvious from context.

Hitna is originally the feminine form of the adjective meaning urgent or emergency, but in everyday speech it commonly stands for:

• hitna pomoć = emergency medical help
• sometimes more generally the ambulance service

So learners should think of Hitna here as a fixed everyday shorthand, not just as a random adjective with the noun missing.

Će is the future-tense auxiliary verb. In this sentence, it helps form the future:

• će doći = will come

More exactly, će is the 3rd person singular future auxiliary, used with subjects like:

• on = he
• ona = she
• ono = it
• singular nouns such as hitna

So Hitna će doći means The ambulance / emergency services will come.

Because će is a clitic, a small unstressed word that usually goes in the second position in its clause.

So in:

• Hitna će doći odmah

the first element is Hitna, and će comes right after it.

That is why Hitna će doći is normal, while Hitna doći će is not standard word order.

You can compare:

• Hitna će doći odmah.
• Doći će odmah.

In both cases, će appears very early in the clause.

Doći is the natural choice because it refers to one complete arrival.

• doći = to come, to arrive, as a single event
• dolaziti = to be coming repeatedly, regularly, or habitually

In this sentence, the idea is that emergency help will come once, in response to the injury. That is why doći fits best.

Dolazi is a present-tense form, not the infinitive, so it would not work the same way with će here.

Because after ako meaning if, Croatian normally uses the present tense for a real condition.

So:

• ako je ozljeda ozbiljna = if the injury is serious

This is actually similar to English, where we usually say:

• If the injury is serious, ... not
• If the injury will be serious, ...

So the use of je here is completely normal.

Because ozbiljna agrees with ozljeda.

• ozljeda is feminine singular
• so the adjective must also be feminine singular
• therefore: ozbiljna

You can compare:

• ozljeda je ozbiljna = the injury is serious
• problem je ozbiljan = the problem is serious
• stanje je ozbiljno = the condition is serious

So the ending changes to match the noun.

It is in the nominative singular.

That is because ozljeda is the subject of the clause:

• ako je ozljeda ozbiljna

Literally, this is structured like:

• the injury is serious

Since ozljeda is the thing being described, it stays in the nominative.

Also, the predicate adjective ozbiljna is nominative too.

Because Croatian does not have articles.

So unlike English, Croatian does not normally use separate words for:

• a
• an
• the

That means ozljeda can mean an injury or the injury, depending on context.

The same is true of Hitna here: Croatian does not need an article before it.

Yes. Croatian word order is more flexible than English word order.

For example, these are all possible with slightly different emphasis:

• Hitna će doći odmah ako je ozljeda ozbiljna.
• Ako je ozljeda ozbiljna, Hitna će doći odmah.
• Hitna će odmah doći ako je ozljeda ozbiljna.

The basic meaning stays the same, but the focus can shift a little.

The main thing to watch is that će still tends to stay in that early second-position slot.

No, but it is a very common and standard Croatian word.

A few related words are:

• ozljeda = injury
• rana = wound
• povreda = also injury, but this is more typical in Serbian and Bosnian, though Croatians will understand it

So for standard Croatian, ozljeda is a very good word to learn for a general injury.

A rough guide is:

• će ≈ soft chye
• doći ≈ DO-chi, but with a softer ch than English
• ozljeda ≈ OZ-lye-da

Two sounds may feel unfamiliar:

• ć in će and doći is softer than č
• lj in ozljeda is pronounced as a single sound, not as a completely separate l
  • j

Many learners do not master these sounds right away, and that is normal. Even an approximate pronunciation will usually still be understood.